Counting the Beat/How Bizarre/Royals/Victoria: My 41st blog of the year 2024

Well, hi everybody, this is Whetu Ngapo here on my Kiwiavenger blog but first, I have announced that I decided to go to Wellington next year in January 2025 (But the Wellington holiday goes ahead as planned, but on only one condition that Cathey, Paige & Norah will have to be there in Welly especially in Petone for the time being) with either Pops or Pops & Carole or Pops, Aunty Tan & Rejean if both Aunty Tan & Rejean are here since Dad dropped out of taking me there due to his work commitments that he's currently tied up with meaning that he won't make it, mainly for whanau reasons because of my willingness of meeting Paige Ahearn (My 30 year old cousin/cuzzie who is in fact my bestie as well as honorary sister just like Kelsey Nicholls & my imaginary mate) again mainly who I have not seen her since 2016 along with Paige's mum Cathey Middelplaats (My biological aunty who could be in the mix as my bestie along with Andy Webb just like Paige & Andy's wife Kelsey, but Cathey is old because she is 57 now) as well as Paige's daughter & Cathey's granddaughter Norah who I have never met in my whole life (And I've once said that Cathey Middelplaats is a bit of both a Alanis Morissette (The famous female Canadian-American pop rock singer), Danielle Cormack (Famous Kiwi actress who once appeared on Wentworth as well as Shorty Street & movies such as Channeling Baby, the Price of Milk & Without a Paddle) & Famke Janssen (The famous female Dutch actress who appeared in I Spy, Taken & the X-Men trilogy) lookalike, while Cathey's daughter Paige Ahearn (Who is a full time mum as of today by always taking care of her daughter Norah (I'm not sure what is her surname (It might be Williams-Ahearn but I don't know it at all) but I know Paige's husband Jarrod's surname, & it is Ahearn according to the email that she sent to me circa mid 2016 to early 2018 & she managed to marry Jarrod last year after years of dating together like she first dated him at 18 a year after getting her full drivers license at 17, meanwhile she safely came back home along with Jarrod in 2020 from London in the UK just right before the start of the global COVID pandemic after spending nearly 3 years over there on an OE (Overseas experience) as Pops told me before 4 years ago) reminds me of both Black Ferns 7s rugby player Sarah Hirini & Sky Sport TV presenter Kirstie Stanway because of her uncanny as well as close but remarkable resemblance to both in contrast of Pops looking like the late great British actor Sean Connery as well as Dad who is a bit of a doppelgaenger of former New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori & for me, well I look like Austin Powers from the Austin Powers movie trilogy according to the comment from Pops in 2017 (Smashing baby, yeah baby yeah! Oh behave, but Pops once saw an Austin Powers impersonator way back when the city of Wellington that once had a rugby sevens event), but I'm into fashion because of my new shirt & jacket that Pops gave it to me as well as my girly hair & glasses, reminds me of being a fanboy of the Britpop rock music genre inspired by the former frontman of the UK Britpop band, the Verve of Richard Ashcroft.

And the latest on the Olympics such as the France men's sevens team claimed gold against the 2 time gold medalists Fiji (Who I thought should've won in the end) in the gold medal match all thanks to the AB's old foe of Antoine Dupont who would finally claim the gold after appearing in the quarterfinal with the French national team who fell short to the eventual champions South Africa at last year's Rugby World Cup, but in the rowing department as Emma Twigg didn't get the gold that she deserved for as she got beaten by the Dutch competitor who snatched gold from her who Twigg was having a tough race by claiming silver therefore unable to follow it up to her success in Tokyo (And our country is 14th on the medal table (And 15th according to the updated medal table as of August 5th) but we're stuck on both golds (Which was won by the Black Ferns sevens led by both co-captains of the departing Sarah Hirini & Risi Pouri-Lane in women's rugby sevens, then Francis & Spoors in the rowing women's double sculls) along with 4 silvers (Such as Finn Butcher for example who is now an Olympic champion in the canoe slalom as he had a perfect start before he got the gold ahead of a British opponent & World No.1 of Joseph Clarke who got the silver then the German competitor named Noah Hegge had claimed the bronze, then it was Ellesse Andrews in the women's keirin track cycling when at that moment as Andrews who became the 1st woman from New Zealand to win an Olympic track cycling event since Sarah Ulmer herself in Athens, Greece way back in 2004 & the women's K4 500m consisting of Tara Vaughan, Olivia Brett, Alicia Hoskin & the GOAT herself of Dame Lisa Carrington (It's a 6th gold medal for Carrington (Who is in her final ever Olympics in Paris before possibly retiring) since she made her debut in London in 2012) & just the one bronze (Including the sisters from Whanganui such as Jackie Gowler & Kerri Williams), but the People's Republic of China currently lead the medal table ahead of the US, & it is reminiscent of Beijing 2008 where the Chinese ended up topping the medal table after the Olympic Games at their home Olympics in Beijing (And there was Zheng Qin Wen (The one that was runner up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open earlier this year) who claimed gold in the women's tennis as she defeated her Croatian opponent Donna Vekic (The one who beat New Zealander Lulu Sun in the ladies singles quarterfinals at Wimbeldon) in the women's gold medal match, becoming the first female Chinese player to do so while the gold medal match in the men's singles is set, it is going to be Novak Djokovic of Serbia against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, in a rematch of the gentlemen's singles final at Wimbeldon which had gone in the way of the Spaniard of Alcaraz, but there has been an update as Djokovic has finally becoming the Olympic champion in men's tennis as he got payback from Wimbeldon as he had beaten Alcaraz who had to settle for the silver (And the bronze medal went to the Italian of Lorenzo Musetti) in one of another greatest revenge stories in sport of all-time compared to Israel 'The Last Style Bender' Adesanya's win over Alex Pereira last year at UFC 287 & there is a new king in the athletics 100m event which was won by an American competitor of Noah Lyles who thought that he got beaten by a Jamaican Kishane Thompson (Who thought he had it before Lyles (Who revealed that he had COVID when he narrowly missed out on winning the 200m because it went to a competitor from Botswana named Letsile Tebogo who was the first African in history to win the 200m & also the United States who were favourites to win the 4x100m title, but got disqualified which resulted in Canada led by its sprinter Andre De Grasse, becoming the Olympic champion while Aunty Tan who alluded to me on the phone on the 12th of August as she was so damn impressed about it, especially the result in which the people of Canada were stoked) had been declared the Olympic champion) but wow, he got it! As he is now the new world's fastest man as well as the first American since Justin Gatlin in 2004 at Athens to claim gold in the 100m (Then it was the GOAT of Usain Bolt who dominated the next 3 in Beijing 2008, London 2012 & Rio 2016 before the Italian of Lamont Marcell Jacobs took over from him last time out in Tokyo 3 years ago).

And also the latest on the football stuff in England just before the brand new Premier League season which is due to get underway on the 17th of August such as fines being handed out against defending Premier League champions Manchester City for nearly $3 million for deliberately delaying the game (Which is a lesser known rule) 22 times during their home games as they repeatedly coming out late for both the beginning of matches & after half-time (In a headline billed as: TIME IS MONEY) with their coach Pep Guardiola expected to make changes in an effort to shorten his half-time team talks, according to the statement from Premier League but when will Manchester City's invicibility of winning Premier League championships end? If they shorten all those half time team talks to avoid getting fined again for deliberately delaying the game (And unlike Newcastle United that in 1995-96 that they nearly won the Premier League because they had their best chance of winning the English league which had gone the way of Manchester United (And Leicester City had managed to pull it off to win the Premier League championship in 2015-16 which was the greatest giant killing Cinderella stories of all time in akin to a David against Goliath battle, in terms of the history of English football by an Italian manager named Claudio Ranieri (The ex-Chelsea coach) who acquired cheap players such as Frenchman N'Golo Kante, Austrian Christian Fuchs, Jamaican Wes Morgan & Englishman Jamie Vardy).

And finally the All Blacks team has been named for our opening Rugby Championship test against Argentina in 2 days time on August 10th at Sky Stadium in the nation's capital of Wellington (AKA Welly, the Windy City & Wellywood), but the most recent test between the 2 countries was last year during the Rugby World Cup semifinal where the All Blacks (Who have never lost a test since last years ill-fated Rugby World Cup final against the defending world champions South Africa at the Stade de France (Venue for so much of the Paris Olympics this year) in Paris, France in October 2023) had a comprehensive win against the Argentinians with Will Jordan scoring a hat-trick in which he was the top try scorer at rugby's global showpiece event in 2023, so here is the starting lineup according to Razor:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Tupou Vaa'i (Chiefs/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Sam Darry (Blues/Canterbury)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Ethan Blackadder (Crusaders/Tasman)

7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Captain, Moana Pasifika/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): TJ Perenara (Hurricanes/Wellington)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Tele'a (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Asafo Aumua (Who replaces George Bell to return at the reserve hooker position role)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who also replaces Ethan de Groot with de Groot elevated to the run-on XV therefore covering the loose head prop position)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell (Who replaces Pasilio Tosi to cover at tight head prop)

19 (Reserve lock): Josh Lord (Who also replaces Sam Darry (Who is elevated to the starting lineup as the starting no.5 lock) to make a return to test rugby after a long injury layoff)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Wallace Sititi

21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Noah Hotham with TJ Perenara returning from injury as the starting halfback)

22 (Reserve midfielder): Rieko Ioane (Who returns as he makes way for Jordie Barrett who is promoted to the starting XV)

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Will Jordan (Who plays his first All Black test since last years Rugby World Cup final before injury took him out for the entire Super Rugby Pacific campaign this year for the Crusaders)

So that is my 565th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 41st of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Glory, Glory Hallelujah/From the Blind Spot/Go: My 40th blog of the year 2024

Well, hey guys it's Whetu here as the Olympic Games in Paris is officially underway but first, the Black Ferns sevens (Who are farewelling players such as co-captain Sarah Hirini, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (The NRLW bound player who is the female equivalent of the late great men's New Zealand rugby legend Jonah Lomu compared to Spanish footballer Aitana Bonmati (The one who appears in the EA Sports FC 25 ultimate edition alongside cover star Jude Bellingham of both the England national team & the Spanish club he plays for of Real Madrid, & the 3 football legends of England's David 'Becks' Beckham (Current owner of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami led by the incredible Argentinian Lionel Messi) & a pair of Football World Cup winning players such as France's Zinedine 'Zizou' Zidane & Italy's Gianluigi 'Gigi' Buffon) & she has the same age as me) who is dubbed as the Andres Iniesta of women's football in Spain), Stacey Waaka (Who bids farewell to all forms of rugby before going to league next year with the Brisbane Broncos women in the NRLW competition, but I saw her in an New Zealand Beef + Lamb advert before on TV just before the Olympics had started where the Black Ferns sevens went on to claim the gold once again in Paris) & Tyla King (Who will play for the St George Illawarra Dragons women competing in the NRLW) are Olympic champions again after a hard fought victory in the gold medal match against Canada who finished silver in one of by far, the most incredible rugby sevens matches, man or woman, that I have ever seen on TV of all time (And watching the 2nd half of the gold medal match was my best 7 minutes of my life when I told Pops about it), then in the rowing department such as the Kiwi women's double sculls duo of mothers Brooke Francis (Who was once known as Brooke Donoghue prior to her marriage) & Lucy Spoors (Who took over from Hannah Osbourne following Tokyo but the duo of Francis & Spoors were the first New Zealanders to win the women's double sculls gold since the Evers-Swindell twins of both Caroline Meyer & Georgina Earl in Beijing 2008) went on to claim our country's 2nd ever gold medal in Paris 2024 after they had a slow start but they've managed to have a good comeback at the 1500m mark to ease past the Romanians of Ancuta Bodnar & Simona Radis who won gold 3 years ago at the delayed Tokyo 2020.

And news straight out of Belgium in F1 such as the former multiple world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton (The Scuderia Ferrari bound driver) who originally finished 2nd in the Grand Prix, has been declared the winner (And that is win number 105 for Sir LH during his decorated & illustrious F1 career, as he is 14 ahead of another multiple world champion of Schumi (Michael Schumacher) in terms of the all-time active grand prix victories list) which was marred by his Mercedes-AMG teammate George Russell who got himself disqualified for an underweight car in the aftermath of him who originally won the race (Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari had nabbed the pole after Red Bull's Max Verstappen got penalized 10 grid places (His first of the season) after originally posting the fastest lap time in the wet during qualifying), but I wonder the headlines would say: RUSSELL SHELLSHOCKED OF DQ, SIR LH DECLARED WINNER, but the last time a driver won a Grand Prix before it was overturned by DQ was Michael Schumacher back in 1994 in Belgium when Schumi originally won the race but his win had been annulled due to disqualification for an illegal skid block wear which resulted in victory to Britain's Damon Hill (The most famous examples was in 1985 were Alain Prost had stripped of his race win in San Marino for an underweight car (The late Italian Elio de Angelis was declared the winner despite not leading a lap during the Grand Prix) the same as Russell did most recently in Belgium this year, just like Brazilian Nelson Piquet (The one who got suspended from the F1 paddock for life, but got fined nearly $1 million for racially related comments regarding to Sir Lewis Hamilton back in 2022) in 1982 at his home GP in Brazil which was won by Prost & the late James Hunt in his home race in Britain at Brands Hatch who was the first to win then get a DQ for it as he failed to complete the whole lap in the aftermath of a red flag with the late great Niki Lauda in the Ferrari, being declared the winner & Ayrton Senna in 1989 in Japan for illegally rejoining the track via a push start from marshals which resulted in a win for the Italian in the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini & the championship going in the way of Prost (Senna got fined $100K & had recieved a suspended 6 month ban for his actions that he recieved), while the next race takes place in Zandvoort in the Netherlands for the Dutch GP which is the home race for the 3 time defending Formula One world champion of Max Verstappen who dominated the last 3 Grands Prix in front of his adoring home crowd in which Verstappen (Who hasn't won in Formula One since Spain this year before Russell won in Austria then Hamilton in his home race in Britain for his first win in Formula One since Saudi Arabia in 2021 followed by Aussie Oscar Piastri who took the victory for the first time in F1 in Hungary & Sir LH once more at the next Grand Prix in Belgium in the aftermath of his teammate Russell who had his win thrown out as a result of a disqualification) is having his emotional homecoming since the Dutch GP had been welcomed back to the F1 calendar in 2021 (It was originally going to be held in 2020, but it never happened due to COVID).

And on to the political stuff in America such as on the 21st of July that US President Joe Biden announced that he's stepping down of challenging Trump for re-election therefore allowing the US Vice President Kamala Harris to take over from Biden (Who had been the Preisdent of the United States since 2021) as the main Democratic presidental nominee according to the previous blogs that I did, & then all of a sudden that Harris has jumped into the lead as she is ahead of the former US president Donald Trump (Who survived from an assassination attempt in July) according to the polls (And I was like: Wow! When Harris had taken over, but I'm now a pro-Harris supporter just like pro-left wing & pro-Liberal compared to me still being anti-Trump as well as anti-Conservative & anti-right wing) 3 months in the leadup to the US general election which is due to be held on November as Harris bids to become the first female US president in history (And they already had Barack Obama as the first African American president way back, but Harris is gunning to become the 2nd ever black president of the United States).

And onto the rock music related news where Incubus (Well, the first time I started to remember listening to the band was way back in 1999 when one of their tracks of Pardon Me came out, while Drive was my 2nd song that I've heard from the band a year later in 2000) have revealed a new band member to replace bassist Ben Kenney (The guy who took over from Alex 'Dirk Lance' Katunich in 2003 before departing last year when he recovered from a terminal illness) who decided to move on last year when he announced his retirement after being 20 years being as a band member with female bass player Nicole Row (Who once played bass for both American pop singer & former actress Miley Cyrus & Panic! At the Disco (Who are now retired as of today after their lead singer Brendon Urie became a father when his wife Sarah gave birth to a baby last year) & has the same age as me (And I had the opportunity to be born in the millennial generation in 1991 which is during the 90's decade & it was during the grunge music era as the most popular form of rock) & both female New Zealand rugby players of Ruby Tui (The ever popular New Zealand female rugby player who decided to become a fifteens player in the aftermath of her success with the Black Ferns 7's in Tokyo 3 years ago, just like Mils Muliaina did when he made the decision to transition to 15 a side rugby in order of becoming an All Black in light of the success at Manchester, England during the Commonwealth Games in 2002 when New Zealand won the gold medal in rugby sevens) & Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (Niece of former All Black Fred Woodman & was once a netball player before she took up rugby as her main sport of choice (And she's married to a fellow rugby player of Renee Woodman-Wickliffe via a same sex marriage as of today) taking over from him permanently just before the band had re-recorded the Morning View album from 2001 called Morning View XXIII which came out in May this year (The band thought that they originally going to release it in 2021 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the album release, but it got delayed as a result of the COVID pandemic so they pushed it to May 10th this year), & when I first heard one of the tracks of the re-recorded album that the lead singer Brandon Boyd's singing voice is drastically changed (From the chest that he once had in then to nasal as of today trying to sound like Brian Molko who is the Placebo frontman) mainly although not only he is getting older, wiser & mature now (He is 48 as of today compared to 25 at the time when the original version of the album that I got in my bedroom came out in 2001), compared to the original in which his singing voice was youthful back in the day which was just incredible, but he was trying to sound like Tom DeLonge from Blink-182 while the re-recorded songs sounded like an incomplete polished album that had to start with, but the men of our generation are always into Linkin Park (The band members that I remember were the late great Chester Bennington (Before being replaced by new co-lead singer Emily Armstrong (Whose singing voice is trying to sound like Lzzy Hale from Halestorm) from Dead Sara in which Linkin Park are very similar to both American pop-punk band Blink-182 & Armenian American rockers System of a Down having the dual vocalists in the band), Mike Shinoda (Who is the co-lead singer alongside the late Chester Bennington's replacement of Armstrong), Brad Delson, Dave 'Phoenix' Farrell, Rob Bourdon (The original drummer who left the band therefore allowing Colin Brittain to be his replacement as the band's new drummer) & Joe Hahn) these days compared to the fathers who are always fanatics of Metallica (Which features the likes of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Rob Trujillo (Who took over from Jason Newsted since 2003) & Lars Ulrich) & the grandfathers who are always hooked into Black Sabbath (Which includes Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler & the late Bill Ward) as part of the generations of rock & metal according to the YouTube comment that I saw in one of the rock related songs that I heard it from (And I've got a total of 64 songs that I downloaded straight from the internet such as MP3 downloader ranging from alternative rock (AKA alt rock where it is the most popular genre in rock since 2004), to grunge (When it took over from glam metal as the most popular genre form of rock from 1990 until 1993), Britpop (The genre that took over from grunge from 1994 until 1997) & nu metal (The most popular form of rock/metal music as they took over from Britpop beginning in 1998 until 2004).

So that is my 564th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 40th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

P.S. Because maybe

You're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all

You're my wonderwall

Out of the Night/Don't Wait for Me to Be What You Want Me to Be: My 39th blog of the year 2024 (AKA My fave golden Olympic moments for our country of New Zealand)

Well, hey everybody, this is Whetu here on my Kiwiavenger blog type of thing, but first, it all comes down to this (And 3 years of hard work has been paid off) as the world's pinnacle sporting event of the Olympic Games is back after 3 years as the French capital of Paris is getting ready to host the Olympics this year (And this is going to be a hell of a story indeed when the Olympics is descended upon the capital city of France but if you think the Olympics is great? Gimme a hell yeah), but I don't know how much gold medals New Zealand will win? Because last time out it was 7 at the delayed Tokyo 2020 in 2021, & we we're one shy of the all-time record set in Los Angeles in 1984, with 8 (Including future America's Cup champion with both Team New Zealand in 1995 & 2000 & Swiss syndicate of Alinghi in 2003 of Sir Russell Coutts (Current SailGP CEO (Chief executive officer) in which the Finn boat was his least favourite when he earned international recognition of claiming a gold medal in the Finn class according to the Team New Zealand story 1995-2003 book (And also that New Zealand were late starters in 1986-87 when we first competed in the Louis Vuitton Cup, 3 years after Australia first took the Auld Mug from the Yanks in 1983 (And there was a famous remark but one-liner from the then Prime Minister of Australia at the time of Bob Hawke following Australia's triumph on the water that any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a backside).

And I mentioned my favourite Olympic memory before on my blogs was the Kiwis golden hour of London 2012 where Hamish Bond & Eric Murray claimed the gold in the rowing men's pair at their debut Olympics, an hour before Mahe Drysdale who overcame dehydration before the gold medal race began, did redeem himself of finally getting the golden touch in the men's single sculls in the same sport, 4 years after missing out in 2008 in which he won the bronze which was won by a Norwegian competitor who was the Olympic champion at the time in Beijing.

And also the legendary moments in Kiwi sport at the Olympics throught their previous generations were the late great Jack Lovelock achieving gold in the 1500 metres in Berlin 1936, then it was the late Yvette Williams in the women's long jump in Helsinki 1952, while the late great Sir Peter Snell who dominated in Rome in 1960 in the 800m athletics event as well as the also late great Murray Halberg in the men's 5000m event & before Snell did it in Tokyo in 1964 in both the 800 & 1500m event followed by the men's eight in Muenchen 1972, 4 years before John Walker dominated the 1500m in Montreal, Canada in 1976 along with the New Zealand men's field hockey team that became Olympic champions for the only time & Ian Ferguson & his heroics in both LA 1984 in which he claimed 3 & Seoul 1988 in which he became the Olympic champion not once but twice, & then Barbara Kendall for her performances in the water in Barcelona 1992.

And finally the special but honorable mentions that I did before on my blogs was Danyon Loader who is from Otago in Atlanta 1996 as he won not once but twice in the 200m & 400m freestyle (That used to one of my fave Olympic moments then back in 2016 on my blog) then the Evers-Swindell twins who dominated in the women's double sculls in both Athens 2004 & Beijing in 2008 in which was in fact a close finish reminiscent to Drysdale did in Rio in 2016, followed by Dame Valerie Adams heroics in Beijing 2008 & London 2012 in the women's shotput (Including in 2012 where a Belarussian opponent originally claimed the gold & after the games that she failed a drug test which resulted in a disqualification therefore allowing Adams to be declared by crowning the Olympic champion once more) as well as Peter Burling & Blair Tuke's gold medal winning performance in Rio 2016 & of course, Dame Lisa Carrington & her quest of dominance over the last 3 Olympics in London 2012 first, then Rio four years later & of course, the most recent one at the delayed Tokyo 2020 in 2021, same as the Black Ferns sevens led by Sarah Hirini & featuring the likes of Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (Who is in her final ever Olympics after she announced that Paris 2024 will be her last as she gears up in her final Olympic swansong), Stacey Waaka (Who is rugby league bound as she plays for the Brisbane Broncos women in the NRLW competition), the ever popular Ruby Tui (Who is now a fifteens specialist), Michaela Blyde (Daughter of Cherry & sister of Liam who hails from Taranaki) & others did when they finally claim gold which was inspired by the book, Sevens sisters that I haven't got.

So that is my 563rd blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 39th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Nowhere To Run/Molly's Chambers/The Bucket: My 38th blog of the year 2024

Well, hi everyone, this is Whetu here on my Kiwiavenger blog but first in the rugby department that it's official that 'Hardie Ardie' of Ardie Savea (Who is the defending World Rugby player of the year last year who I label him as the Chris Wood (An All White from the 2010 Football World Cup who currently plays for Nottingham FC in the English Championship) of rugby) is going to Moana Pasifika starting from next year right until the end of 2027 to link up with his bro Julian (Jules the bus) & commits through to New Zealand Rugby until after the Rugby World Cup in Australia (But I thought players playing for Moana can't be picked for the All Blacks like Ardie for example, meaning that he is over there starting from next season, even though that Moana Pasifika is mainly a team consisting of Samoan & Tongan players as well as the Aussie & Kiwi players who have Pacific Island roots, & I have no problem whatsoever given that Savea's shock jump to Moana is in fact the biggest moves in the history of Super Rugby Pacific, compared to the late great Jonah Lomu (Who was one of by far, the all-time greats in the sport of rugby union & is one of the household names of New Zealand rugby according to the comment that I remember from former rugby league player turned rugby broadcaster of Fauono Ken Laban from the old Sky rugby shows circa 2009 when Lomu was 6 foot 5, 118 kilos, unbelievably fast (And I remember one of the comments on YouTube that Lomu was like an army tank powered by a Formula One engine) making the switch to the Hurricanes for the 2000 season from the Chiefs during the Super 12 era & Beauden Barrett joining the Blues from the Hurricanes in 2020 which was during the Super Rugby era).

And news coming straight out of Paris in France prior to the Olympics as many Parisians are moving out of the city, citing security reasons as the main factor because of them encouraged to work from home & they can't access the Eiffel Tower for the duration of the games to watch over there, but strangely speaking that security at the games have been asked to safeguard the entire Israeli Olympics team 24/7, especially the men's under 23 football team due to geopolitical tensions between Israel invading Hamas in Gaza which is often in a direct reference to the Muenchen massacre in which the Israeli athletes had taken hostage then they get murdered by an armed terrorist group way back in 1972 in which there is a movie inspired by the real life tragic event that was released in 2005 which featured an Aussie film star who played the Hulk in the movie that came out in 2003 of Eric Bana.

And in Formula One news such as McLaren's Oscar Piastri (The young gun in this years F1 grid compared to Spain's Fernando Alonso who is Formula One's elder statesman) finally became a race winner in F1 following that stunning victory in Hungary ahead of his British teammate Lando Norris in 2nd while Sir Lewis Hamilton (Who took current points leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull out during the race before getting penalised) in the Mercedes-AMG, had rounded out the podium with Piastri becoming the first Aussie to win a Grand Prix since Daniel Ricciardo (AKA Dan/Danny Ricc/The Honey Badger who is currently with RB & was the guy who took over Nyck de Vries's race seat since last year in which RB was once known as Scuderia AlphaTauri) at Monza in Italy in 2021, also in a McLaren which was overshadowed by controversy whether Lando should've won the Grand Prix, but he let Oscar pass during the closing stages of the race (And there are calls for team orders to be prohibited again, just like from 2003 (In which has been implemented since Michael Schumacher took the victory from his Ferrari team-mate at the time of Brazilian Rubens Barrichello who was in the lead in Austria way back in 2002, before Barrichello returned the favour in the United States in which he snatched victory from Schumi) until 2011 (A year after in Germany in which Alonso was faster than Felipe Massa according to the radio message that I remember from Massa's old race strategist at the time of Rob Smedley before the Spaniard went on to win on that occasion way back in 2010, but had got fined for breaking the rules, then it was legitimate since 2011 that they brought back team orders, but there are calls to crack it down again in wake of Piastri stealing the lead from Norris).

And finally that US president Joe Biden is pulling out of the presidental race (Well, I didn't see it on CNN, but I should've watched it anyway), mainly due to health reasons as well as old age according to the announcement that had come on the 21st of July with US vice president Kamala Harris is now officially taken over as the Democratic presidental nominee of challenging the former US president Donald Trump at the US general elections in November to determine who'll become the new president of the United States.

So that is my 562nd blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 38th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Holy Grail/Sitting Inside My Head/Downhearted: My 37th blog of the year 2024

Well, what's up guys & girls, it's Whetu here on my Kiwiavenger blog but first, the AB's team has been named for our one-off test against Fiji at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, USA (The site of Team New Zealand's infamous win against Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America Yacht way back in 1995 in which where the America's Cup was then became, New Zealand's cup, according to the previous blogs that I did), but the most recent test between the 2 countries was in 2021 in the 2nd test in Hamilton where the AB's had a landslide win against the Fijians with Fijian born All Black Sevu Reece scoring a hat-trick as well as Samisoni Taukei'aho (Who came into the squad as injury replacement for Dane Coles who suffered an injured calf) getting a double on his debut test) in our last hit-out before the Rugby Championship against Argentina at Sky Stadium in Wellington during the opener which is a rematch of the semi in last years Rugby World Cup, so here is the starting lineup according to Razor:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Tamaiti Williams (Crusaders/Canterbury)

2 (Hooker): Asafo Aumua (Hurricanes/Wellington)

3 (Tight head prop): Fletcher Newell (Crusaders/Canterbury)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Captain, Crusaders/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Tupou Vaa'i (Chiefs/Taranaki)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Luke Jacobson (Chiefs/Waikato)

7 (Open side flanker): Ethan Blackadder (Crusaders/Tasman)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Cortez Ratima (Chiefs/Waikato)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs/Waikato)

13 (Centre): Billy Proctor (Hurricanes/Wellington)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Caleb Clarke (Blues/Auckland)

14 (Right wing): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)

& 15 (Fullback): Beauden Barrett (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): George Bell (Who replaces Asafo Aumua (Who is promoted to the starting lineup to replace Codie Taylor) to cover at hooker whilst making his test debut)

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Who is dropped to the bench to replace Ofa Tu'ungafasi therefore covering the loose head prop position)

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Pasilio Tosi (Who replaces Fletcher Newell to cover at tight head prop whilst also making his debut test with Newell elevated to the starting lineup to replace Tyrel Lomax)

19 (Reserve lock): Sam Darry (Who is called to the squad as injury cover to Patrick Tuipulotu as he replaces Tupou Vaa'i (Who is elevated to the run-on XV as he replaces Tuipulotu) to make his test debut off the bench)

20 (Reserve loose forward): Wallace Sititi (The son of a Samoan rugby legend Semo who is another test debutant as he replaces Luke Jacobson by allowing him to start at blindside flanker as he replaces Samipeni Finau who started the last 2 tests against England in that position)

21 (Reserve half-back): Noah Hotham (Who is in line to make his test debut off the pine with Cortez Ratima promoted to the run-on XV as he replaces Finlay Christie who is rested for this test)

22 (Reserve midfielder): Jordie Barrett (Who is dropped to the bench as he makes way for Anton-Lienert Brown who is promoted to the starting XV)

& 23 (Reserve outside back): Emoni Narawa (Who plays his first All Black test since last year (In which he made his test debut against Argentina during the Rugby Championship opener before injury took him out of last year's Rugby World Cup) as he also makes way for super-sub Beauden Barrett who gains promotion to the run-on team)

And the rugby fraternity here in New Zealand is in mourning as former Southland, Wellington, Hurricanes & All Blacks player as well as the winner of Dancing With the Stars NZ 2005 of Norm Hewitt who unfortunately passed away due to being a MND (Motor Neuron Disease) sufferer when he had complications from it (And he was the one who confronted & eyeballed English player Richard Cockerill (The current Georgia national rugby team coach as of today) when he performed the haka right in front of him in a test match at Old Trafford which ended in a draw in 1997, but when he first became an All Black, he was a fanatic of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in which the AB's aren't supposed to eat fast but junk food these days according to the comment that I remember from Sir John 'JK' Kirwan prior to the AB's - Fiji test in San Diego during the build up on TV, & then all of a sudden, I remember at one point of me seeing a photo of him with my former step-sisters Johnella (Who currently resides in Tutira in the Hawke's Bay province with her partner Tony Bouskill (The world fencing champ from 2020) & their children of daughter Keira-Lee (KL), & both sons Jack (Named after Nella's late grandfather) & Katana (Named after the famous sword from Japan) & Hera (Currently residing in Brisbane, Australia with her Aussie partner Brendon & her daughter Willow (Cousin of KL, Jack & Katana) during my Raetihi Primary School days, & it brings me back memories & also he played in the 2000 NPC final for Wellington against Canterbury with a broken arm (And the key pivotal moment of the final went to the late great Jonah Lomu (The first true global superstar of the game who is one of the all-time greats of the sport of rugby union who played alongside the likes of Tana Umaga, Christian Cullen, the late Jerry Collins & Rodney So'oialo during his time with Wellington from 2000 until 2003, but how many times have I mentioned that great humble man many times before in my blogs? Well, there are too many of them in fact, to say the least (And he was the one who sat next to Aunty Tan during a Tongan graduation in Palmy in late 1995 according to the blog that I did in 2018) swatting off one of the Canterbury players of Marika Vunibaka before scoring a crucial but vital try which resulted in Wellington winning the NPC for the first time since 1978 & the last time they won an NPC title until 22 years later in 2022 (That was the year after Waikato won a full NPC title in 2021 during a year affected by the COVID pandemic & the year before Taranaki won the NPC last year) in which he was the captain at the time), so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the Hewitt whanau back home in Wellington, he will be sorely missed, rest in love.

Norm Hewitt

1968 - 2024

And there has been an update in the rugby, & what a win by the All Blacks who produced a landslide victory over Fiji (Who weren't so competitive as the English did in our first 2 tests of the year) in San Diego (And I mean, what a performance compared to the last 2 tests against England which were in fact tighter ones) in which the conditions are Suva like where there has been hotter over there in our last hitout before the Rugby Championship, but what do I think of the match so far? There were both standout rookies who had a cracker of a game such as reserve hooker George Bell & the most significant is centre Billy Proctor who might have sent a warning to Rieko Ioane with Proctor likely to be a future test starter at centre, but both wingers of Caleb Clarke (Who is re-signed with NZ Rugby as well as the Blues & Auckland, but only on one condition which is just a year) & Sevu Reece (The man who fought against both Blues players of Caleb Clarke & Mark Telea many times every time he played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific, but there was Brodie Retallick who once said in an article that the toughest player he faced on the rugby field throughout his career was indeed a South African in the form of fellow lock Eben Etzebeth who is a twice Rugby World Cup winning player for the Boks & is one of the 23 South Africans as dual RWC winning players along with the 14 All Blacks & 5 Wallabies) who also had crackers when they scored tries, so too is Cortez Ratima who has been having a cracker until he left the field concussed (And after Ratima departed, Noah Hotham (The brother of women's sevens player who plays for the Black Ferns sevens of Jazmin Felix-Hotham as well as under 20 graduate) was on the field who played superbly, but the AB's have had some real problems such as unsuccessfully defending cross kicks which resulted in tries being scored by the opposition (And England did that not once but twice when Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had scored off a cross-field kick taken from Marcus Smith (Who I label him as the Jude Bellingham of rugby compared to Owen Farrell who used to be rugby's equivalent of football's Harry Kane, & Fin Smith being English rugby's equivalent of another English footballer Bukayo Saka), followed by Tommy Freeman (In which Smith repeated the dose just like the 1st one) which put the English in front on the stroke of halftime, then the next test where a Fijian player named Vilimoni Botitu did the same thing as both Feyi-Waboso & Freeman did but the only try in the match scored by Fiji had been unconverted).

And here are the other results coming in such as Georgia nearly made history of claiming an upset win when they were 2 points behind against a 14 man Australia who had to win at Allianz Stadium in Sydney (In which a Wallaby player of Filipo Daugunu had been given a card under review before being upgraded to red for a reckless knee to the head challenge on a Georgian player but now he's been handed a 3 game ban for his actions (Or 2 if he successfully completes tackle academy which is run by the sport's governing body, World Rugby) & are now serious contenders of claiming the Rugby Championship since 2015 under their current coach Joe Schmidt (The former Ireland coach who was the one who took over from Eddie Jones following last year's dismal RWC for Australia according to the previous blogs that I did), meanwhile normal service has resumed for the world champs & world number one of South Africa who return to winning ways against Portugal (Who pulled off a stunning upset win against Fiji in the very last pool game of last year's Rugby World Cup in France) whilst having to play with 14 then 13 players in the aftermath of Andre Esterhuizen being shown the red card by Scottish referee who is a woman of Hollie Davidson (Who was the first female ref in history, to take charge in a men's rugby test involving the Springboks) after originally being given a card under review for a illegal dangerous contact which deemed to be a deliberate but reckless abuse on a Portuguese player named Jose Lima (And recently that Esterhuizen has since been suspended for 3 matches (Or 4 if he fails to complete tackle academy run by World Rugby) then both Springboks had to be sent to the bin such as Kurt-Lee Arendse for a crocodile roll on another one of the Portuguese players which has been prohibited under the laws of the game (In which Shannon Frizell did the same thing on Bongi Mbonambi during last years Rugby World Cup final in which he became the 2nd man to be shown the yellow card (After Ben Smith in 2015 for a tip tackle on Drew Mitchell), then it was the South African skipper Siya Kolisi & Cheslin Kolbe while the All Blacks captain at the time of Sam Cane who was the first man in RWC history to be shown the red card that cost the All Blacks the story last year according to the previous blogs that I did in which the Springboks remained champions of the world in the sport of rugby) then Quan Horn for dangerously taken another Portuguese player out in mid air where the South Africans finished with 13 players at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein in their last game prior to the Rugby Championship when they square off against the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

So that is my 561st blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 37th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Rusty Cage/Crazy Little Thing Called Love/The Boys Light Up: My 36th blog of the year 2024

Well, what's up guys & girls (Hey), it's me, Whetu Ngapo here tuning in my Kiwiavenger blog but first, the AB's have done it as we won the test series against England after another emphatic test (Compared to the Whanganui club rugby final between Border & Kaierau that me & Pops saw which went down to the wire where Border won 5 club championships in a row (And it was played during extra time when Kaierau leveled the scores at the death) in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland therefore extending our unbeaten run at both the venue & the city since 1995, so let's relive the last 10 minutes of the test:

70TH MINUTE, SUBSTITUTION ENGLAND: New Zealand 21-17 England, 70 minutes, Ollie Sleightholme, Bevan Rodd, Fin Smith and Alex Coles are on for England; Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Fin Baxter, Marcus Smith and Chandler Cunningham-South off.

In fact, the Harlequins first five-eighth is returning as the Smiths unite - Freddie Steward is off to get checked for a head knock so Marcus Smith will go to fullback.

71ST MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), SCRUM FEED ENGLAND: New Zealand 21-17 England, 71 minutes, Ben Earl punches the air as Bevan Rodd makes a mess of an All Blacks ruck. England’s scrum just inside the New Zealand half after an 11th handling error of the night for the hosts. Scott Robertson takes a nervous gulp of water in the coaches’ box.

73RD MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER): New Zealand 21-17 England, 73 minutes, time ticks away as Nic Berry is forced to reset the scrum not once but twice. Jamie George, who will see out the remainder with Theo Dan failing to get checked for a head injury, has a calm word with the Aussie ref.

74TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY ALL BLACKS (ILLEGAL SCRUMMAGING) & PENALTY ALL BLACKS (INTERFERENCE IN THE AIR): New Zealand 21-17 England, 74 minutes, a mighty All Blacks scrum! Fletcher Newell’s ear is covered in claret but the replacement tighthead won’t care, Bevan Rodd folded in by Newell’s shove and penalised. And that will help New Zealand out, too. Maro Itoje tries to get after Scott Barrett at the lineout, but his reach across as the All Blacks captain comes down is deemed illegal. Alex Coles had infringed, too - three points here from Damian McKenzie’s boot would surely take the prospect of an England win off the table...

75TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY GOAL: PENALTY! NEW ZEALAND 24-17 England (Damian McKenzie, 75 minutes), a kiss off the left-hand upright but it’s safely through. The All Blacks lead by 7 as we enter the final 5 minutes at Eden Park.

76TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER): New Zealand 24-17 England, 76 minutes, off England go in search of a try to square it, but Henry Slade’s kick isn’t quite right, Damian McKenzie scuttling across to cover and booting for touch. Anywhere will do, but that’s a good’un from the first five, out beyond halfway, from where the visitors will launch again.

77TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), PENALTY ENGLAND (PLAYING THE PLAYER WITHOUT THE BALL): New Zealand 24-17 England, 77 minutes, Ollie Sleightholme scorches a trail! Sevu Reece is burned by the replacement England wing, making a very quick All Black appear as if he’s trudging through sludge. England are awarded a penalty in the All Blacks 22 for a tackle off the ball from Scott Barrett. To the corner in search of the score the tourists need...

79TH MINUTE (2 MINUTES LATER), PENALTY ENGLAND (OFFSIDE): New Zealand 24-17 England, 79 minutes, stolen by Asafo Aumua! Brilliant jackalling from the replacement hooker two metres from his own line as he wins a vital turnover! Beauden Barrett boots to touch but Marcus Smith tosses it quickly to himself. England explore left then right, with a penalty coming if they need it. They will, Ben Earl knocking on. A minute to play - this is it.

80TH MINUTE (1 MINUTE LATER), TMO REFERRAL: New Zealand 24-17 England, 80 minutes, Jamie George picks his target, Maro Itoje taking safely. England try to maul, but New Zealand’s defensive shove is well built. Or is it! In pour the England backs to edge it closer....but there are All Blacks bodies beneath the ball as George comes to floor! Is that the end? Perhaps not! Nic Berry wants to check the actions of the New Zealand players to see if it was collapsed, calling in TMO Brett Cronan, who has had nothing to do for 80 minutes but may now decide the outcome...

PENALTY ALL BLACKS (OBSTRUCTION): New Zealand 24-17 England, 80 minutes, it will be New Zealand’s penalty! A clear obstruction from Ollie Lawrence as he shears away from the stalled maul to re-generate momentum with Jamie George in his boot. George pleads his case but the footage is clear - that will be that. The All Blacks’ 30-year winning run at Eden Park goes on!

FULL TIME: New Zealand 24-17 England

FT: New Zealand 24-17 England, Agonising again for England, but the All Blacks simply do not lose at Eden Park! It took the hosts an hour to come properly to the party, New Zealand reliant once more on the impact of their bench to tilt the contest their way. But what impact the replacements made, Beauden Barrett sensational as the hosts’ closer to secure a 2-0 series victory.

And what do I think of the test? Well, it went down to the wire at the end, especially New Zealand were desperately lucky not to concede a penalty try & a yellow card for pulling down a maul at the end which resulted in a draw, but somehow there might have been an obstruction to Ollie Lawrence (Who was really in front of the ball carrier where England got it all wrong before they were held up in fact then the ref decided to check whether there was a clear & obvious crossing in which a TMO decision had decided the outcome of the match) which resulted a penalty to the All Blacks that cost England both the test, as well as the series (And New Zealand's unbeaten run at both Eden Park & Auckland continues following our epic 7 point test win against the English (Who'll be absolutely gutted along with the England football team of not bringing football home following another defeat in the Euros final (First it was Italy in the delayed Euro 2020 which was held in 2021, then it's the Spanish this year with Spain's time to shine after redemption, 12 years in the making) as they felt the pain on Spain as England once again narrowly misses out therefore the drought of winning an international football tournament for the English, continues), but my standouts went to both our first five Damian McKenzie & super-sub Beauden Barrett (Who just come on for 'Stevie P' of ex-Whanganui Collegiate student as well as former Whanganui rep Stephen Perofeta to close out the test) for having outstanding games, but there was an easy All Blacks try that had been botched with England first five Marcus Smith intercepted a pass from Sevu Reece that was meant for Perofeta (And I mean, what a scum when Pops said it when me & him watched it along with Carole on TV here at our place) for whom I thought if Reece had dummied, he could've gone all the way to score (And bring on the Flying Fijians of Fiji as we are playing against them in our next test at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, United States in which they're trying to bring rugby over there as part of the main reason to make it attractive towards the American people (In which Gridiron is the main football code in the United States, but it has always been stop-start just like rugby league in which Pops doesn't constantly follow these 2 sports a lot because of him being always a rugby union follower which has rucks & mauls).

And in other rugby news such as Australia continue their dominance against Wales to win the test series in Melbourne (Including the one try that Wales scored to tie the match had been disallowed due to an infraction against Welsh skipper Dewi Lake which resulted in a penalty to the Wallabies that cost Wales of sealing a draw as well as drawing the series), then the Springboks suffer their first defeat since becoming world champions again last year against the spirited Irish side (Who was the last side to beat the South Africans last year which was during pool play at last year's Rugby World Cup in France right up until that point, but the ref thought that there was an possible obstruction in the leadup to the winning drop kick from Frawley that they had to have a look at, although the TMO says that it was alright when one of the South African wingers of Cheslin Kolbe fell over as one of the Irish players was in the way, & then in all of a sudden that the kick went over in which the 2nd test between the South Africans & the Irish was decent, but the New Zealand-England 2nd test was much better not only that both me & Pops are All Blacks fanatics) in Durban courtesy of 2 dropped goals including the game winning one at the death from reserve Irish first five Ciaran Frawley which resulted in a drawn series just like the Argentina - France one with the Argentinians successfully replied with a win against the French in Buenos Aires after losing the first one.

And in Wimbeldon news such as young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (Who is Spain's leading Olympian at the Paris Olympics compared to Jannik Sinner who is the leading Olympian for his country of Italy & of course Stefanos Tsitsipas being the leading Olympic athlete for Greece along with NBA basketball superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo) has stunned the experienced veteran Novak Djokovic (Who is Serbia's leading Olympian at Paris alongside another one of the famous basketballers from that country of Nikola Jokic who plays for the Denver Nuggets which won the NBA championship last year (That was the year, right before the Boston Celtics went on to become NBA champions, for the record 18th time) to win the gentlemen's singles title once again just like last year in which the man known as 'Charlie/Carlito' able to repeat his heroics from the French Open in June, but he got booed from the pro-English crowd about him showing support for Spain to win the Euros (Just like the pro-German crowd had jeered one of the Spanish players of Marc Cucurella from English club Chelsea for a pair of illegal handballs that should've been penalties that cost hosts Germany a place in the semifinal against France according to the previous blogs that I did), & in the aftermath of his Wimbeldon success once more, he did send a message on his X account about the tremendous victory that Spain had over England to become champions of Euro 2024 while he celebrated every time Spain score a goal, including the one he sent a message on the social media platform X when Oyarzabal scored a late goal which resulted in Spain at that moment, becoming the new European champion (And I wonder the headlines would say: ¿QUE PASA? SPAIN TRIUMPH EURO 2024 AGAINST ENGLAND IN DRAMATIC, EPIC FINAL, or more like: SPANISH ARMADA BREAK 12 YEAR DROUGHT WITH SUCCESSFUL EUROS GLORY, or especially: SPANIARDS EASE PAST GERMANY TO BECOME MOST SUCCESSFUL IN EUROPE).

And news straight out of Euro 2024 as Spain led by its inspirational skipper Alvaro Morata (Who overcame his injury woes to play in the final which ended in glory for the Spaniards coached by the man who took over Luis Enrique of Luis de la Fuente after the events of the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar, but they brought back both Dani Carvajal & Robin le Normand from suspension as well as they didn't include Pedri who already suffered a tournament ending injury in the quarterfinal win against hosts Germany in controversial fashion), win the tournament for the first time since 2012 as well as their record 4th Euros championship (They first did it in 1964, then 2008, 2012 in which they successfully defended the Euros (The only time they did that in the tournament's 64 year history) & now this year to become the most successful football playing nation from Europe (Where they will be playing the Copa America champions of the Lionel Messi (Who is the mentor of young teenage Spanish football prodigy Lamine Yamal of FC Barca who was part of the triumphant Spanish team that recently won the Euros, & Yamal (Who is the protege of Leo (The Inter Miami player) in fact) was the one who got the winning goal against France in the semi) led Argentina who remained champions against Colombia in the final in Miami, Florida in the United States in next years Finalissima (In which the competition is contested between the champions of both the Euros & the Copa America respectively, has been brought in to replace remnants of the now defunct Confederations Cup which was last held in 2017 (And Argentina (Who were Copa America champions in 2021) won the inaugural game in 2022 (That was the year that the Argentinians won the Football World Cup after 36 years of get rich & die trying, despite dropping a game against Saudi Arabia in their opening match of the tournament in one of the tournament's biggest ever boilovers) against the champions of the delayed Euro 2020, Italy) after Messi got injured during the final of Copa America while his country shrugged off Messi's injury to successfully defend the title), compared to Brazil being the most successful football playing nation in the world with 5 Football World Cups to their name (Their first was in 1958 then they became the last side to complete a successful defence of the Football World Cup in 1962, followed by 1970, 1994 & 2002 which was the last time the Brazilians had won football's global showpiece event to date, but that fateful day of sport in Spain will be a day long remembered. It has seen the defeat of Novak Djokovic, & will soon see the end of the England football team (Who had all their fun & games until they suffered another defeat in the Euros final according to the newspaper report from Whanganui Chronicle on the 16th of July) with a 2 - 1 win over England in the final in Berlin courtesy of a late goal provided by one of the Spanish players of Mikel Oyarzabal (Who netted in for the match winner just like Mikel Merino did against Germany in that controversial QF & Yamal in the semi against France, but it was Dani Olmo who stopped England in their tracks with a game defining header, therefore preventing a possible equalizer from the English in the dying seconds were Spain were in front, & held on right through the end) as the Spaniards ended their campaign undefeated, being the first side to do so with a perfect record of 7 & 0 including 7 consecutive games without losing a match since the semifinal defeat against the Italians (Who were the eventual champions at the time) on penalties at Euro 2020 which was played in 2021 (And after the semifinal defeat against Italy at the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021 that Spain were able to get in shape in order to get back on top of the European continent).

And finally something awful has happened with America being on high alert which was marred by former US President Donald Trump who got shot to survive an assassination attempt which was shades of Ronald Reagan which was an absolutely shocking situation, but he was OK by getting over it & managed to survive before being taken away to safety by the President's bodyguards to a heavily secure medical facility to recieve treatment on his ear, but there are calls for necessary upgrades by hiring extra security to be provided by the Trump & Biden families as well as the current & former US presidents with Trump Tower (In which the NYPD reluctantly agreed to safeguard the facility 24/7, although the beefed up security measures have been upped following a serious incident & I mean, that is always terrible but shocking when Dad told me & Pops about the news on July 15th before tuning in to watch both CNN & Al Jazeera news channels about Trump having a scare of surviving an assassination attempt like that (Hope he's fine according to the estimates, but the current US President Joe Biden has addressed to the nation about that shocking situation regarding to Trump having his near death experience from the clutches of a deceased gunman that consipracy theories on social media about assassinating Trump should be unacceptable not only because it's objectionable (And X need to curb that as well to stop that from happening again such as preventing copycat attacks), but this one there, is the worst thing I have ever seen throughout my society in the political world, especially from my point of view), Mar-el-Lago & other sensitive areas belonging or associating to Trump as well as the upcoming Democractic & Republican national conventions (In which law enforcements have been deployed for the time being, but they need to implement bullet resistant glasses for adequate protection every time a former or current US president makes a speech at a rostrum in front of a crowd) were security is fully heightened nationwide all according to plan in the aftermath of a really serious incident (And there are also calls that backpacks need to be prohibited in which the item was used during the attempted assasination where a man (Who later the authorities identified him as a 20 year old) got gunned down by marksmen who are working for the president's security, but good job (And all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the family of a Trump supporter who got gunned down by a alleged gunman, so Rest In Power (RIP).

So that is my 560th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 36th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Fool's Gold/Feels Like I'm Falling in Love: My 35th blog of the year 2024

Well, hey guys & girls (G'day), I am Whetu tuning in to my Kiwiavenger blog, but first of all (And foremost), the final of Euro 2024 is set, it'll be Spain squaring off against England at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany on July 14th, in the aftermath of Spain who became the first side to book a place in the final with victory against Kylian Mbappe's France after being a goal down in the 1st semi which was similar to the Portugal-Czechia & Netherlands-Turkiye games, then England did a similar thing to Spain (Who reach their first final of the European Football Championship since Euro 2012 which was held in both Ukraine & Poland in which they crushed Italy in the final to secure their record tying 3rd Euros championship to date, & have never won it since (They were eliminated by Italy (Who fell to Germany in the quarterfinal at the same tournament, 5 years before becoming champions & 3 years later, they were unable to defend their title this year in which the injury ravaged side were outfoxed against Switzerland (The one who caused the biggest boilover at Euro 2020 which was held in 2021 against tournament favourites France in the round of 16 before being fallen short against Spain on spot kicks in the quarters in which the Swiss have achieved their best result to date at the Euros) in the round of 16) at both Euro 2016 in France during the Round of 16 & at the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021 in the semifinal on penalties) as they crushed the Netherlands to a 2 - 1 win after becoming the 4th side to win a game after being a goal down at this years Euros tournament (And both the Spanish & English sides were down but not out for the count on that occasion).

So it's Spain to play England in the Euro 2024 final at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany on Sunday local time which is Monday morning New Zealand time to decide who will become champion of Europe (Well, who is it going to be? Whether it's the Spanish Armada to party like it's 1964, 2008 & 2012 (Vamos Espanya) or will football finally come home for the English in order to break their 58 year drought of winning men's football tournaments where the English have never won since their home Football World Cup tournament in 1966 (C'mon England! (And they came so close in 2020 which was held in 2021 where they lost to the Italians on spot kicks (And the English should've won on that occasion) which resulted angry England fans who racially abused Bukayo Saka (Who scored the goal of the quarterfinal against Switzerland that tied things up before going into penalties) for missing a penalty during the shootout, meaning that the war on racial hate towards footballers who have African roots like Saka had been declared on social media, with suspensions likely to be handed out to the fans those who discriminate them (And abuse as well as hate & discrimination on social media, is like bullying, therefore that they are trying to prohibit them in the process, I mean oh no, that is terrible I have to say), but will it be Spain skipper Alvaro Morata (It was the late Ferran Olivella who did it in 1964 against the Soviet Union in the final then Iker Casillas not once but twice in 2008 against Germany in the final & 2012 against Italy also in the final) whose hopes of playing in the final had been dealt with injury after the semifinal win against France where a cameraman (Who got clobbered by a steward in pursuit of a fan who illegally charged onto the field to celebrate with the Spanish players) trodded onto Morata's lower leg, therefore injuring the former Chelsea player but if he's ruled out through injury, Dani Carvajal (Who is returning from a 1 game suspension alongside his Spanish teammate Robin le Normand where both Carvajal (One of Jude Bellingham's teammates coincedentally in club level who was part of the Real Madrid club that triumphed in the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund in June this year) & le Normand sat out in Spain's win over France in the semi through a ban after being given another yellow card which resulted in a red card (Carvajal) while le Normand missed the next match for the accumulation of bookings during that controversial quarterfinal encounter against hosts Germany (Who had Toni Kroos who took Pedri out which resulted Kroos being shown a possible yellow card meaning that Pedri's tournament had been cruelly cut short with an injury like that, just like Malcolm Marx at last year's Rugby World Cup where his campaign was done with a serious injury which took him out of the tournament but didn't play in the final against the All Blacks (And the current best first five in the world of Handre Pollard had just called in to replace the unfortunate Marx which boosted South Africa's quest of retaining the RWC) just like All Black Dan Carter (It was Pollard who took over from DC as the best first five in world rugby, while Englishman Jonny Wilkinson was before Dan) did in 2011 where his tournament was over with a serious groin injury, but we did manage to pull it off with a winning penalty goal by Stephen Donald (Who was the fourth choice New Zealand first five in the aftermath of both Carter & Colin Slade getting injured during the tournament as well as Aaron Cruden) against the French in the final colloquially billed as 'The Kick' where it was immortalized by a TV movie, which came out in 2014 about New Zealand winning the Rugby World Cup after 24 long years) including Mikel Merino's goal during extra time that put them through to another semi) would lead the side, or England captain Harry Kane (Who currently plys his trade for Bayern Muenchen in the German Bundesliga competition) to become the European Football Championship winning captain to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy?.

And the AB's team has been named for our second & final test against England at the Garden of Eden at the City of Sails (Where New Zealand have never lost both at the ground & at the city since 1994 against France (Who sealed a dramatic test series victory after one of the French players had scored a winning try billed as 'The Try From the End of the World' which etched in French rugby folklore, then in 1995, a year after the French coup when a boat called Black Magic and a team called New Zealand became the first from outside the United States to win the America's Cup against Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht led by Dennis Conner (And the famous words come from PJ Montgomery, the original voice of the America's Cup that was before Team New Zealand crossed the line to win race 5 "The America's Cup, is now New Zealand's Cup!" (And I remember the one-liner that has certainly repeated on air more often than any other in New Zealand's history according to the Back to back Black Magic book that I've still got in my bedroom somewhere) in San Diego (The city that hosted the America's Cup in 1995 & will play host to a historic first ever international rugby test match between the All Blacks & Fiji at Snapdragon Stadium), California, United States according to the previous blogs that I did), but the most recent test between the 2 countries was this year in the 1st test in Dunedin where the AB's managed to pull off a win against the English by a single point to kick off our international rugby year as well as the Razor era), so here is the starting lineup according to Scott 'Razor' Robertson:

STARTING XV

FORWARD PACK

FRONT ROW

1 (Loose head prop): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders/Southland)

2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Crusaders/Canterbury)

3 (Tight head prop): Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes/Tasman)

SECOND ROW

4 (No.4 lock): Scott Barrett (Captain, Crusaders/Taranaki)

5 (No.5 lock): Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues/Auckland)

LOOSE FORWARDS

6 (Blind side flanker): Samipeni Finau (Chiefs/Waikato)

7 (Open side flanker): Dalton Papali'i (Blues/Counties Manukau)

8 (Number 8): Ardie Savea (Hurricanes/Wellington)

BACK LINE

HALVES

9 (Half-back): Finlay Christie (Blues/Tasman)

10 (First five-eighth): Damian McKenzie (Chiefs/Waikato)

MIDFIELD

12 (Second five-eighth): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes/Taranaki)

13 (Centre): Rieko Ioane (Blues/Auckland)

OUTSIDE BACKS

11 (Left wing): Mark Telea (Blues/North Harbour)

14 (Right wing): Sevu Reece (Crusaders/Southland)

& 15 (Fullback): Stephen Perofeta (Blues/Taranaki)

& REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

16 (Reserve hooker): Asafo Aumua

17 (Reserve loose head prop): Ofa Tu'ungafasi

18 (Reserve tight head prop): Fletcher Newell

19 (Reserve lock): Tupou Vaa'i

20 (Reserve loose forward): Luke Jacobson

21 (Reserve half-back): Cortez Ratima (Who is in line to make his test debut off the pine with Finlay Christie promoted to the run-on XV following TJ Perenara's injury during the 1st test)

22 (Reserve midfielder): Anton Lienert-Brown

& 23 (Reserve back): Beauden Barrett

And the latest in the motor racing especially in F1 such as George Russell in the Mercedes-AMG, has taken victory in Austria which was marred by controversy involving the championship rivals of both Dutchman Max Verstappen (Who won in Spain & is currently the championship leader) & Britain's Lando Norris (Who was the polesitter in Spain, but Max had other ideas during the Grand Prix) taking out each other by going mad at them during the Grand Prix (In which Norris retired from the Grand Prix & Verstappen nursing the car home by finishing in 5th, although he got penalized 10 seconds for an avoidable contact on his championship rival during the race), then the following race in Britain where Russell's teammate, the Ferrari bound driver of 7 time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, has returned to the top step of the podium in Formula One for the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021 in front of his adoring home fans in which he secured his 9th win at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone as well as his 104th of his career (He's 13 ahead of the legendary as well as the highly controversial figure of the sport, Michael Schumacher & currently leads the all-time wins list in F1), & then in Indycar where Pato O'Ward edged the 2 time defending series champion & current points leader of Alex Palou (The winner at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca) to take the win in the most recent Indycar race at Mid-Ohio (Which is the home track for the Rahal family, especially Bobby & his son Graham (Who is married to Courtney Force (Daughter of NHRA legend John who was recently hospitalized in a high speed wreck) in Lexington, Ohio even though with the series heading to Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa (Where the race was won by our very own Kiwi who drives for Team Penske of Scott McLaughlin who hasn't taken on the top step in Indycar since Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama), then it's the streets of Toronto, Ontario in the Great White North of Canada, the last before the Olympic break which is coming to suit American television schedules, meanwhile in the Supercars Championship where our own Kiwi Matt Payne went on to win one of the races on the streets of Townsville which is located in Queensland in Australia (Meanwhile Will Brown of Red Bull Ampol Racing is currently leading the championship, but standing in the way is Walkinshaw Andretti United's Chaz Mostert (The 2 time Bathurst 1000 winning driver in both 2014 with Paul 'The Dude' Morris (Dad of current Super2 racer Nash) & in 2021 with Lee Holdsworth) who is Brown's main challenger in terms of the championship when both are at a 2 man horse race at the moment (Compared to Aussie Indycar racer Will Power (The Chaz Mostert & Lando Norris of Indycar) who is Alex Palou's main challenger in terms of the Indycar Series championship (With Palou sharing a similar role to both Will Brown & Max Verstappen).

And finally that I once told Pops that I was stressed out once, but I have revealed that I have rage fit (Except me taking those risperidone medication pills but I can't take off that medication, literally, not only that I'm big (I used to be skinny as a 12 year old when I saw the photo of me & Jans when he was a baby way back then, 21 years ago), then I once told Pops that I was attempting to lose much weight, but somehow I'm a real, massive failure), just like the US president of Joe Biden who is still in his 80's who has fears of getting both Alzheimer's disease as well as dementia when the president who frequently lost his temper & lashed out his White House aides, many of whom have grown fearful of meeting with Biden (Who fears that he might pull out of the presidental race because he may be getting too old if he wants to step down as his bid for re-election is in tatters) alone, especially him being victimized by phone scammers since taking office, though his public remarks suggest a tenuous grasp of reality that would make him especially vulnerable while reports indicate Biden (Who I fear that he might pull out of his re-election bid against the former president Donald Trump even if the US Vice President Kamala Harris wants to replace him by stepping in Biden's shoes, but I don't know why I'm sure she wanted it) is also susceptible to fits of rage, a common symptom of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

So that is my 559th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 35th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.